STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - - It wasn’t all that long ago that Bob Scamardella and Mary Reilly were going head to head in a high-stakes battle for control of the Staten Island Republican Party.

But the two have been together throughout the Republican National Convention in Tampa, bringing a little bit of their own GOP unity to the proceedings.

Back in 2011, Ms. Reilly was the party chair, having achieved a longtime dream after serving as vice chair for many years. But the party was falling apart after the implosion of GOP Rep. Vito Fossella. Longtime stalwarts were drifting away, disgusted at the turn the party had taken.

At one infamous meeting, the once-ruthlessly efficient borough Republicans didn’t have enough members to form a quorum and do business.

Scamardella, meanwhile, was looking to take control of the party, recruiting hundreds of Republicans to serve on the GOP county committee so they could elect him chairman.

In this he was backed by GOP power broker Guy Molinari, a wily veteran of numerous party battles. Molinari’s presence only upped the voltage of the battle.

Things got tense and sometimes ugly as the sides geared up for a showdown over the party leadership. Elected officials were forced to choose sides.

But then the Fossella old guard opted out of the fight. Ms. Reilly agreed to hand the gavel to Scamardella and a full-fledged battle was averted.

“I’m not about chest-thumping,” Scamardella told us after a New York delegation breakfast in the Hilton Clearwater Beach Hotel, where borough Republicans stayed during the convention. “Mary Reilly has done a lot for the party. She’s an asset to it. It would be folly for me not to embrace her.”

And perhaps more importantly, Scamardella said, “She is a fine lady.”

“We are having a great time,” Ms. Reilly said in Tampa. “Look, Bob and I both wanted something. Bob stood up for what he believes in, I stood up for what I believe in. We acted like adults, we kept it cordial.”

Ms. Reilly, for her part, has seen her own silver lining in the situation. She is now president of the New York State Federation of Republican Women.

The gig allows her to stay politically active and also gives her the opportunity to travel to different parts of New York and the country, doing party-building work and keeping in touch with fellow Republicans.

It’s a particularly important spot these days, she said, with all the talk about “this so-called Republican war on women. Doing something about that is more important to me than being county chair.”

The federation job would have left her little time to be a party chair, she said.

“I’m happy,” Ms. Reilly said. “It was a good thing. In hindsight, I’m happy with how it turned out. Things are moving in the right direction.”

Besides, Ms. Reilly said, “Bob is doing a great job. We are still working together. And we’ve been having a lot of fun in Tampa.”

HOLDING THE SENATE

In addition to getting Mitt Romney elected president, New York Republicans were focused on some other political matters during the Tampa convention.

Namely, holding onto and adding to their majority in the Senate, and also making sure the party doesn’t give back the gains in the House seen by the GOP in 2010.

Among those touting the importance of holding the Senate was GOP Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who said that the Dems were “beyond a disaster” when they held the majority.

There will be more dysfunction if they take control again, Skelos said, adding, “We’re not going to let this happen.”

His words buoyed Lisa Grey, who is in Tampa for the convention and is running against state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn).

But speaking to the Advance later in the week, Skelos said he didn’t know yet what campaigns Albany Republicans would spend their money on.

“We haven’t made a decision on that race,” Skelos said of the Savino-Grey matchup. “We’re going to see where the opportunities are, what our resources are, and where we will invest.”

ENOUGH GOP ALREADY

The Tampa convention was one long infomercial for Romney, vice-presidential pick Paul Ryan and other Republicans across the country.

Hey, that’s what political conventions are all about.

“Conventions are for firing up the base,” said state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn). “But at the end of the day, they’re preaching to their own audience.”

Which Ms. Savino said is a mistake, in that the convention appealed to those who are already voting for Romney, leaving out the independents who will decide the fall election.

From her vantage point, Ms. Savino said that the women at the convention “are charming, the men are really angry.”

She said organizers got it wrong, therefore, in pairing Ann Romney with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with Ryan.

“The contrasts were amazing,” she said.

Overall, Ms. Savino said, “it was four days of dubious facts delivered to the American public. They didn’t offer any solutions or say what they would have done differently.”

Don’t worry. Dems get to have their say at their convention in Charlotte, N.C., this week.